The former full-time
executive of Microsoft and present co-chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation is just one of an estimated 1.1 million baby boomers who have
traded jobs in the corporate world for work at nonprofit organizations. And
millions more will follow, according to a recent survey by Civic Ventures and
the MetLife Foundation. About three-fourths of the nation's 78 million boomers
plan to work beyond the traditional retirement age, with as many as half
saying they're interested in jobs that help others. "We're seeing the
beginnings of a large work force for social change," said Phyllis Segal, vice
president of Civic Ventures, a think tank that tracks boomers in "encore
careers" that offer not only a paycheck, but also the chance to do good.

It would
be very timely, and world news, to come up with a sustainable rural broadband
model that engages the majority of citizens in purposeful training and peer
mentoring which produces measurable social, economic, and cultural
outcomes. What would be the common sense intersection of rural lifestyle and
the global information society? Of the values for citizenship and community
service, in both a local and global context? How is homeland security
increasingly related to international economics?

It is an
open question how western individualism and our cherished rural lifestyle can
reconcile the necessity for meaningful participation in the global information
society and economy. Our history for many ruralites has been one of “I get all
the news I need from the Weather report.” Suddenly, due to a changing economy,
we’re seeing techno-mavericks taking the bull by the horns and teaching
themselves 21st Century rural survival skills for realizing an
income from anywhere using broadband. How can we all learn how to do this?

We know
it is possible to create Ecommerce websites at no cost and to begin our own
global marketing – but most of us lack the tenacity to figure this out for
ourselves – so a new form of rural support services has become vitally
necessary, and is most certainly viable. We’re surrounded by outstanding
success stories which seem to intimidate the majority of us, more than
motivate. Who out there can “Trick My Tech,” a rural business owner might ask?
Our youth have emerged as digital wizards as the first digital generation in
the history of the world.

Common
sense suggests that if web-based tools are getting easier to learn, more
powerful, and are often free, and that with 1 billion shoppers online and six
billion more coming online – perhaps we need to up and do something, and
sooner rather than later?

The
recent political convention themes have created a sudden recognition for the
plight and value of rural communities. There is a new American digital
citizenship dynamic emerging, a new call to participate in community service,
a new suite of real opportunities to pull ourselves out of the current array
of huge problems. There is a new and sudden recognition that our global
relationships are integral to our local and national prosperity, and that the
American tradition of helping those in need is more important than ever.

With the
new and powerful online tools, global service learning now compels us to teach
the world what they didn’t know they needed to know on an ongoing basis and on
a one-to-one high-touch basis. “From each according to his/her ability, to
each according to his/her need.” (Gene Rodenberry/Star Trek) Everyone both
learner and teacher, consumer and producer, all the time, from anyone,
anywhere, to anyone, anywhere, anytime, online.

At issue
is nothing less than global security assuring everyone is participating in the
global supply chain, to remove the economic disparities which often are the
cause for violent conflicts. Mining raw human potential using new knowledge
and new teaching technologies in a world has become viable and necessary,
where half the population lives on under $2/day and half the population is
under the age of 20. That we can educate the first digital generation of 3.5
billion youth and create a global entrepreneurial culture of trust and
goodwill is indeed compelling, but more bracing is the risk of what can happen
to us all, if we do not quickly move to embrace this opportunity.

Intelligent common sense sharing of training solutions via peer content
authoring with emphasis on instructional mentorship and encouragement offers
an unprecedented level of socioeconomic capacity-building at a time when
global climate change threatens major disruptions in the economics of many
nations.

Now, we
can view online videos comparing proposed policies of presidential candidates,
and can learn online and participate directly in the democratic process –
voicing our own views and taking action via social media. The new politics of
transparency have changed democracy forever, though we’ve only glimpsed the
beginnings for what’s now possible, and inevitable, for the entire world.

The age
of transnational activism is upon us, with MySpace and 100 million teens
having demonstrated that the virtual equivalent of the 8th largest
nation on earth can be created in under two years. Now, MySpace, Facebook, and
others are in a new competition to be purposeful, to be focused on social
causes of all kinds, to motivate the masses to engage in positive world
change.

The New
America and America’s next big challenge is to demonstrate global citizenship
values and best practices.

One
person can generate online instructional content to educate and empower
unlimited numbers of people in need. Even the simple gathering and sharing of
the best instructional resources, can save valuable time for huge numbers of
global learners. Use of humor, goodwill, American ingenuity, and sheer
tenacity doing what needs to be done – can now be taken to a whole new level.

The
Integrity of a Montanan Handshake.
Establishing Trust – by demonstrating integrity and trustworthiness, is where
this must begin. There are so many Internet scams that for many rural citizens
the words Internet and Scam are synonymous. Who can effectively separate the
wheat from the chaff by simplifying the best training and action trategies
leveraged by the most effective support systems? To be updated regularly and
supported by rural mentors willing to personalize necessary assistance?
Sharing the best innovations as they emerge at the individual, community, and
national levels, as a global cause, makes best use of our joint common sense.
If we all share what we know, we’ll all have access to all our knowledge.

Global
Citizenship and Service to the Global Community

The new
Global Citizenship requires the integrity to recognize – if we now actually
can make a difference globally, from the comfort and social safety of our own
homes and armchairs, we share an obligation to take action, to learn how to
leverage each of our actions, to make the world a better and safer place for
all – as a matter of national security, and as a moral obligation as an
American, gifted with freedom and armed with a global voice at our fingertips.
The new online capabilities dictate; “Now that we can make a global impact, we
must.” And we must indeed fight…in the war against ignorance, armed with new
knowledge on how to teach anyone, anywhere to become constructivist learners,
able to build their own knowledge without being subject to propaganda,
intolerance, and biased media. We share an obligation to fight for the world
as it should be.

It is
perhaps a matter of faith, that regardless of religious orientation, all
people will rally to the same global citizenship values as one human family,
one species, supporting our precious and finite planet, one with all living
things.

To:
Rural Community Citizens and Leaders

From: Frank Odasz
Lone Eagle Consulting

RE: It will be what rural Americans learn to actually DO with
broadband that will determine their level of global competitiveness and
benefits.

If
your community is suffering from the sudden jump in oil and food prices, you
might consider how intelligent use of local broadband can help your community
adapt. Grant templates, online training and many online resources are offered
without restriction, along with affordable community coaching and other
services to help your rural community quickly leverage the entrepreneurial and
other benefits of online access to the global information society and economy.

Please consider use of these resources for training local trainers to quickly
grow local socioeconomic capacity by helping all local businesses establish a
free web site and identifying local expertise and mentors. Consider the Lone
Eagle resources for engaging your local youth in E-entrepreneurship programs
to allow them to participate demonstrating their digital skills helping local
businesses gain a web presence. Youth don’t have to become your communities
greatest export when anyone anywhere can learn to use the Internet to make the
living they want, living wherever they want.

Supplementing family incomes using Internet is becoming widespread though most
rural citizens do not know where to go to learn how to do this. Being rural
shouldn’t mean being unaware of best practices for using Internet for rural
sustainability when it is so easy and cost effective to put online training
and mentoring services, online. Online distance learning and mentoring
opportunities are profound, cost effective, and desperately needed.

Today's
"new economy" is knowledge-based, entrepreneurial, and globally competitive to
an extent that was almost unimaginable even a decade ago. Education is the key
to the 21st century, both in terms of economic prosperity and personal
achievement.

In recent years we’ve seen an explosion of billion dollar social media
business success stories and at the same time confusion regarding the promise
of broadband resulting in disappointing take-up rates in rural and Native
communities. The economic decline continues and the need for a new form of
community education and fast-track action plans is growing dramatically.

Rural community sustainability
requires intelligent use of fast Internet connections for community wellness
across the following nine essential areas; 1.
Safety 2. Health 3. Education 4. Enterpreneurship/Ecommerce 6. Social Services
7. Culture 8.Government 9. Entertainment. At issue is identification of the
broadband training best practices and smartest applications for each area. The
reality is that the widespread training of citizens need not be at all
expensive, but it does depend on whether local leaders and the majority of
citizens understand what is at stake, and that their direct participation in
raising local awareness as to what’s possible to lower costs and supplement
incomes is essential if the benefits are to be realized.

Rural
Community Economic Sustainability and Global CompetitivenessShare
this online at: http://lone-eagles.com/meda2008.htm
A Smart Community quiz and resources shared at the Fall 2008 Montana Economic
Development Conference.